The talk will discuss our recent efforts on developing a series of bioprinting strategies including sacrificial bioprinting, microfluidic bioprinting, and multi-material bioprinting, along with various cytocompatible bioink formulations, for the fabrication of biomimetic 3D tissue models. These platform technologies, when combined with bioreactors and bioanalysis, will likely provide new opportunities in constructing functional organoids with a potential of achieving precision therapy by overcoming certain limitations associated with conventional models based on planar cell cultures and animals.

In this talk, I will present our laboratory’s recent research efforts in rapid continuous projection 3D bioprinting to create 3D scaffolds using a variety of biomaterials. These 3D biomaterials are functionalized with precise control of micro-architecture, mechanical (e.g. stiffness and Poisson’s ratio), chemical, and biological properties. Design, fabrication, and experimental results will be discussed. Such functional biomaterials allow us to investigate cell-microenvironment interactions at nano- and micro-scales in response to integrated physical and chemical stimuli. From these fundamental studies we can create both in vitro and in vivo microphysiological systems such as a human liver tissue for tissue regeneration, disease modeling, and drug discovery.

The ability to three-dimensionally interweave biological and functional materials could enable the creation of bioelectronic devices possessing unique and compelling geometries, properties, and functionalities. Indeed, interfacing high performance active devices with biology could impact a variety of fields, including regenerative bioelectronics, smart prosthetics, medical robotics, and human-machine interfaces. Biology, from the molecular scale of DNA and proteins, to the macroscopic scale of tissues and organs, is three-dimensional, often soft and stretchable, and temperature sensitive. This renders most biological platforms incompatible with the fabrication and materials processing methods that have been developed and optimized for functional electronics, which are typically planar, rigid and brittle. A number of strategies have been developed to overcome these dichotomies. One particularly novel approach is the use of extrusion-based multi-material 3D printing, which is an additive manufacturing technology that offers a freeform fabrication strategy. This approach addresses the dichotomies presented above by (1) using 3D printing and imaging for personalized, hierarchical, and interwoven device architectures; (2) employing nanotechnology as an enabling route for introducing high performance materials; and (3) 3D printing a range of soft and nanoscale materials to enable the integration of a diverse palette of high quality functional materials with biology. Moreover, 3D printing is a multi-scale platform, allowing for the incorporation of functional nanoscale inks, the printing of microscale features, and ultimately the creation of macroscale devices. This blending of 3D printing, functional materials, and ‘living’ platforms may enable next-generation 3D printed devices.

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Keynote Presentation

Title to be Confirmed.Dong-Woo Cho, Professor, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Korea South